Forest Service Spent $100,000 on Drones It Can’t Even Use

Everyone knows by now that Americans aren’t thrilled about the use of domestic drones. So if you’re a government agency and decide to invest many thousands of taxpayer dollars on surveillance drones, it’d be good if you checked to see if you can actually fly them first.

The U.S. Forest Service spent $100,000 in 2007 to buy two Sky Seer drone aircraft that they have not figured out how to use. The story was reported at Environment & Energy and featured at a web site about forest planning. Apparently the agency purchased the drones seven years ago initially to be used for law enforcement, but FAA regulations and other problems have presented obstacles to the very expensive unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) taking to the skies.